Warm
Rebecca should have been answering emails, but she couldn't focus. She was staring at the clock on her laptop, watching the minutes tick by. She alternatively glanced at the door to her office and was disappointed each time she found it vacant.
Ted was now twenty-five minutes late for Biscuits with the Boss. She had hated it when he'd first arrived, but after their time getting to know each other and all that they had shared over the last year, well…Biscuits with the Boss had somehow become Rebecca's favorite time of the day.
Though, to be fair, seeing Ted at all tended to be Rebecca's favorite time of the day. That was the whole problem, really. If it was a problem. It was a problem. Rebecca Welton was a professional. Strong and assertive and didn't take any shit from anyone. That tough exterior was what Rupert had forced upon her after year after year of heartbreak and humiliation. The only way to keep her head up now was to be as tough as nails.
But Ted had changed that. Somehow. His annoying optimism and stupid humor and genuine, infuriating kindness had changed her. Sassy had been the one to remind her, really, of who she once was and how far she'd fallen from a woman she was not only proud to be but happy to be. And she was slowly getting back there because of Ted Lasso. He made her laugh and he made her somehow rejoice in his foolish hope. She gave him something good to believe in. He made her heart sing.
Oh Christ, was she falling in love with the man? Was a club owner falling in love with her team manager? This really was a problem.
"Hey, boss."
Rebecca's head snapped up at the sound of Ted's voice. She automatically smiled to see him standing there with his rucksack and that small pink box of biscuits, but when she really saw him, her face fell. He looked awful. "Oh my god, Ted, is everything alright?" she asked in alarm. His hair was falling into his face and his clothes were wrinkled and his face was drawn and exhausted. He also had a bit of stubble on his face to indicate that he obviously had not shaved that morning. Even when he had that panic attack in Liverpool, she hadn't seen him look this bad.
"Yeah, everything's fine, I'm sorry I'm late, I, uh…hey, can I sit down? I'm dead tired and I shoulda…"
"Yes, of course, Ted, please," she answered, cutting off his odd rambling. "Here, let's sit on the sofa, that'll be more comfortable."
Rebecca stood and moved around her desk to lead Ted to the sofa and had him sit down. She sat as well and turned herself toward him. Their knees were touching. The skirt Rebecca wore rode up a bit when she sat, exposing a good four centimeters above her knees.
She tried not to think about that or about how close she was sitting to him and how utterly delicious he smelled. He might not have shaved, but he had showered. Rebecca blinked herself back to the issue at hand. "Ted, what's happened?" she asked gently.
Ted rested his elbows on his knees and let his face fall into his hands. "I got a call in the middle of the night from Michelle. She was in the emergency room with Henry. He was at a sleepover with one of his little friends and they were playing outside after dinner and Henry climbed up a tree and fell and broke his arm."
"Oh my god, that's awful!"
He scrubbed his hand over his face in distress. "Yeah, he was all upset and the friend's mom called Michelle and she went and picked him up and took him to the hospital and she called me while they were waiting, which I appreciated, but then I wanted her to call me after they talked to the doctor and everything. I don't know how hospitals work for you all around here, but a little kid with a broken arm doesn't get seen to before people in car crashes or gushing headwounds or whatever. So it was a couple hours before Michelle called me back and told me he's broken his arm in two places and had a cast."
"But he's alright?"
"Yeah, he's fine. They gave him some painkillers and I got to talk to him, and he was all excited that his cast is orange like the Richmond away jerseys. All his friends are gonna sign it and draw on it at school today."
"Well that's a relief. But I suppose you weren't able to get any sleep with all of that," she surmised.
"Michelle called around one in the morning, and then I couldn't get back to sleep waiting for her to call again, and by the time I finished talking to Henry, it was just about five, so I didn't bother going back to bed. But I guess I lost track of time, and that's why I'm late."
Rebecca didn't like the sound of that. "Ted, if Henry's fine, why are you so obviously upset still?"
He looked at her and searched her eyes for something she couldn't begin to guess. After a moment, he blinked and sighed. "Nothing's ever happened to my little boy that I wasn't there for. His first steps, his first words, first tooth he lost, all of it. He got hurt like little boys do, but there wasn't a damn thing I could do. He was hurting and I wasn't there."
"Ted Lasso, you are a wonderful father," she told him sternly. "You speak to your son almost every single day, even if it is through a computer screen or over the telephone. You always know what he's doing in school and you know about all of his friends and what television programs he loves, all of it. I can promise you that Henry will remember that he chose to have an orange cast because of Richmond and he will remember how excited he was to tell you about it and that he did get to tell you about it. Henry knows how much you love him, Ted."
"But it doesn't change the fact that I wasn't there. I couldn't hold him when he was crying in pain, I couldn't tell him a story or a joke or something to help get his mind off it."
"Maybe not," Rebecca conceded. "But there are a lot of children who have fathers who live in the same house with them their whole lives and don't show the same interest or support or love that you do from four thousand miles away. And I hope you won't keep beating yourself up over this."
A small smile crossed Ted's face. "Yes, ma'am," he said softly.
Rebecca felt herself match his smile. "Good," she murmured in response.
Something happened in that moment. The biscuits were forgotten on the table. The air all seemed to be sucked out of the room. His brown eyes were so gentle and soft and inviting and warm. Rebecca suddenly couldn't breathe. Had the room gotten warmer? She watched his eyes flick away from her eyes to her lips and back up. She couldn't help but do the same. And then he was leaning towards her, and she was powerless to stop herself from doing the same.
Their lips met and Rebecca's heart did a roly poly in her chest. The slight scratch of his mustache on her mouth was actually surprisingly nice. She leaned in further and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. His hands found their way to her waist, and Rebecca's whole body started to tremble. She felt like a schoolgirl having her first kiss. In a lot of ways, she was.
Ted's lips moved against hers, and she felt his tongue swipe across her lips. She opened her mouth to him and moaned as their kiss deepened.
She had to get closer to him. She needed to feel more of him. All of him.
Without breaking their kiss, Rebecca shifted herself so she turned and straddled his lap. Her skirt rode up higher on her thighs, but she didn't care. She continued kissing Ted as though her life depended on it. Maybe it did.
But then she noticed that he had stopped moving his hands and his mouth, and she pulled back, horrified that she'd done the wrong thing and misjudged the moment.
They were both breathing heavily. Ted's warm brown eyes were blown wide and dark, and he looked stunned. Rebecca did not know if that was a good thing. "Ted?" she rasped out.
"I…uh…want to be respectful and not push anything too far or make you uncomfortable in any way," he said. His eyes darted down to her cleavage and he quickly shut them tight and swallowed hard. "But uh, I'm having trouble remembering how to be respectful with you on top of me," he added.
"Do you want me to get off you and pretend this never happened?" she asked, terrified that he might say yes. Her face started to grow warm in embarrassment.
His eyes opened again, this time looking perhaps as nervous and afraid as Rebecca felt. "I don't want to do something you're gonna regret," he whispered.
There was that sweetness she'd grown to adore. Rebecca wrapped her arms around his neck again and shifted herself on his lap, brushing up against the growing hardness beneath her. He whimpered at the contact. "Ted," she whispered, "the only thing I'll regret is if I stand up and go back to work without you touching me. Properly."
His eyes went wide. "I don't know if any of this is proper," he said, unable to resist a little teasing quip.
"I want you, Ted," she confessed.
That seemed to be all he needed. His hands found her waist again and pulled her back into his kiss, even more passionate than before. Jesus Christ, Rebecca had not been kissed like this in a long time. Possibly ever. His tongue slid against hers as his hands moved down to her hips to grasp her bum and guide the way she rocked against him.
Rebecca gasped for air. His kisses moved down her neck and the softness of his lips and tongue with the rasp of his mustache and unshaven chin and cheeks caused the most exquisite sensations in her. "God," she moaned.
"Goddamn, Rebecca," Ted groaned against her skin. He had gotten one hand on her right thigh, pushing her skirt up even higher, and his other hand pulled at the neckline of her blouse as he buried his face in her breasts. He thrust himself against her as she continued to grind herself down on his lap.
The shrill sound of the phone ringing interrupted them. They sprung apart, and Rebecca scrambled to get off of him and stand up. As her body and mind started to calm, she realized they'd been snogging on the sofa and dry humping like a pair of randy teenagers while the door to her office was wide open and training was due to begin in less than half an hour. She'd never been happier for an interruption.
She stumbled over to her desk to answer the phone, still out of breath and wobbly. "Hello?" She had to brace herself against the wall to remain upright.
Higgins started talking about something that she couldn't quite listen to right now.
"Sorry," she interrupted. "Could you come up to my office in about ten minutes to discuss this? I'm in the middle of something with Ted." She hung up the phone without really hearing the response.
Rebecca turned back to Ted. "I am sorry," she said.
He was still sitting right where she left him, only now he had a pillow on his lap, likely to wait for the evidence of their activities to dissipate. He looked up at her and blinked in confusion. "Sorry for what?" he asked worriedly.
"Well, I am sorry we were interrupted, but I think it would have been much worse if Higgins had walked through that door instead of just calling me, so I'm sorry that I got so carried away at such an inappropriate time."
"But not sorry it happened?"
She felt her face grow warm again as she blushed. "Not in the least."
He grinned at that. "Good. Me too."
Ted put the pillow aside and stood up. Rebecca noticed he wasn't entirely back to status quo, but the situation had improved. But when he got close to her and she saw the warmth in his expression, she started to get a little nervous again.
"Rebecca, can I take you out to dinner tonight?" he asked.
"I would love that, Ted," she answered. She hoped that they would be able to pick up where they left off. And then some. And she didn't want to wait longer than today. The hours until dinner would be interminable, she knew. Maybe they could skip dinner altogether and…
"I just wanted to say," he began, cutting off her drifting thoughts.
"Yes?" God, he was so close and she wanted him so much and their eyes had locked again.
"I wanted to tell you that you've got the prettiest green eyes I've ever seen."
No man had ever said anything so lovely and sweet to her ever in her life, and Rebecca just could not resist him. She kissed him again. But before they got carried away again, she took two steps away from him. "Higgins will be here any minute, and you've got to get to training," she reminded them both.
Ted just grinned. "Well alright then. I'll see you tonight, Rebecca."
She nodded. "And if you talk to Henry before that, please tell him I hope his arm gets better soon but that I think he chose the color of his cast very well."
He chuckled, bending over to pick up his rucksack. "I appreciate that, boss. I'll be sure to tell him. Thanks for talking to me about all of that. And uh…the rest. You know, I thought this was gonna be the worst day, and there you go making it the best. I'm not even really tired anymore."
Rebecca felt herself blush again. "Till tonight, then," she said, already counting down the minutes until they could continue with 'the rest.'
"You got it."
Ted walked out, and Rebecca heard him greet Higgins heartily in the corridor. She quickly settled herself down at her desk, smoothing out her skirt and fixing her hair and blouse. Hopefully her makeup wasn't too smeared. But honestly, she didn't really care.
Higgins entered with a file of some kind in his hands and sat down in his usual chair by her desk. He paused and asked, "Is it warm in here?"
Rebecca nearly choked, and she didn't know if she was appalled or amused. "Warm? It might be. Why don't you open the window?" she suggested.